Poker Hand of the Week: 12/18/15You Decide What's The Best Play |
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Give us your opinion in the comments section below for your chance at winning a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
Ask any group of poker players how you played your hand and they’ll come up with dozens of different opinions. That’s just the nature of the game.
Each week, Card Player will select a hand from the high-stakes, big buy-in poker world, break it down and show that there’s more than one way to get the job done.
The Scenario
You are a tournament regular playing in a big buy-in European tournament with an elite field of players. There were 56 entrants and 11 remain. Only eight will make the money and you are currently one of the two shortest stacks with 250,000 at blinds of 12,000-24,000 with a 3,000 ante.
An accomplished pro raises from the cutoff to 50,000 and is called by another top player with 1,537,000 behind him on the button. The small blind folds and you opt to close the action by calling with 4
3 in the big blind.
The flop is A
76, giving you a gutshot straight flush draw. You have 197,000 remaining and there is 177,000 in the pot.
The Questions
Do you check or bet? If betting, how much? Are you okay getting called given your strong drawing hand, or do you want to utilize your fold equity? Will you have much fold equity if shoving over a continuation bet? Does the presence of two players change your decision? How does the money bubble affect your play? Is check folding ever the right play?
What Actually Happened
At the EPT Prague High Roller event, Paul Newey was holding 43 and opted to move all in on a flop of A76.
The original preflop raiser, Dzmitry Urbanovich, folded. Steve O’Dwyer on the button, however, instantly called with AQ for top pair and a superior flush draw.
According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, although Newey would be in a near coinflip against most top pair hands, O’Dwyer held an 83 percent lock on the hand by blocking his flush outs.
Newey called for a five, but the turn and river fell 94
to end his tournament run in 11th place, just shy of the money. O’Dwyer went on to win the tournament, his fifth of the year, and take home the €746,543 first-place prize.
With that score, O’Dwyer now has $12 million in career tournament earnings, moving him into 18th place on the all-time money list.
What would you have done and why? Let us know in the comments section below and try not to be results oriented. The best answer will receive a six-month Card Player magazine digital subscription.
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